Fatuma Seid has lived in the same apartment in her Fairview neighbourhood since she immigrated to Canada from Ethiopia 18 years ago, but now the building has been sold and Seid and the other tenants are being evicted for renovations.
The single mother says finding a new apartment has become somewhat of a full-time job and a lot to balance with her job as an interpreter with the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia, where she spends most of her working hours helping newcomers find work and housing.
“There’s no way I can find a $950 or $1,000 two-bedroom apartment,” said Seid. “It is really hard. Day and night we are searching, my daughter and I.”
At last glance, the Halifax vacancy rate sits at 1.9 per cent — the lowest of any major city in Canada, as the rental supply has waned.
Development in the Fairview Clayton Park area is booming. The residential neighbourhoods make up one of the key ridings in the Halifax area ahead of the provincial election.
The main issue on the minds of the candidates and the constituents is the costs of increasing rents and the ongoing development of new apartments condos that are already pushing some residents out of the community.
“Of the five fastest-growing communities in HRM (Halifax Regional Municipality) Fairview and Clayton Park are two of the five,” said Nicole Mosher, a Fairview resident and single mother who is running as the Progressive Conservative candidate.
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“Housing is the main issue I hear on doorsteps in Fairview Clayton Park,” said Mosher. “We’ve always had a wonderful socio-economic spectrum here and we are losing that.
“The community is gentrifying and the people who are here are worried about their neighbours, we don’t want to see them have to move out to Spryfield and Sackville and beyond to pay their rent.”
It’s also a culturally diverse community that includes 23,000 eligible voters this election, many of whom are new Canadians.
“It’s a really thriving and exciting community. We are the most diverse community east of Montreal,” said Liberal candidate and incumbent Patricia Arab.
Safe and affordable housing has been a consistent issue in this riding, said Arab, and it hasn’t changed.
“It’s really striking a balance, making sure there is supply, making sure you are engaged with the developers and making sure there isn’t an ‘us versus them’ mentality. It’s very much a collaborative environment,” said Arab.
Joanne Hussey is running for the NDP and lives in Clayton Park and says people are concerned given the housing shortage and the possibility of rents skyrocketing, once the temporary moratorium on rent increases is lifted when the state-of-emergency is no longer in place.
“People are just really concerned and they want to be able to stay in this community,” said Hussey. “They want to be able to maintain that sense of community that they’ve had here.”
Over the past 18 years, Seid said she’s witnessed steady growth in the community but the new apartment condos come with a price tag she can’t afford on her salary.
“I’m so happy to see that change they but that change is not accommodating me and the citizens, they are pushing them back,” said Seid. “I don’t know where they will go and is that fair for Canadians?”
The Liberals plan to address the housing crisis by implementing the 17 recommendations outlined in the Nova Scotia Affordable Housing Commission Report released in May, which called on the government to invest $25 million to support between 600 and 900 households in housing need in the short term.
According to the report, Nova Scotia’s population grew from 942,970 in 2016 to 979,449 in 2021 but the housing supply has not kept pace with demand.
“It’s just about affordable housing — it’s about safe, affordable housing,” said Arab. “Part of that is stimulating the economy and making sure people have good jobs and then can save up and afford a down payment for a home.”
Mosher says the riding needs a strong voice on the ground to advocate for the community and bring in the services the growing population requires.
“With everybody else now moving into our community and Fairview (Clayton Park) growing in a way that is going to help address the housing crisis in HRM, we’re going to need somebody who is paying attention to the services for the people that are here and the people that are coming are going to need like schools and access to doctors,” said Mosher.
The NDP is the only party that would implement rent control if elected and build new affordable housing.
“We absolutely have a role to play as a government to fight for the needs and rights of those people,” said Hussey. “Rather than the developer who is coming in with money to offer us.”
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